Raspberry Flavored Lip Gloss
by Mrs. HopeEstheim
Summary: In which Natsu and Lucy try to suppress their feelings and Happy actually gets a few lines. NALU at 3:30 AM YEAH.


**So I found this randomly in a notebook and decided to type it up for you guys. I'm editing on the fly so if anyone spots any other mistakes please tell me!**

**Here you go!**

* * *

A breeze blew gently through the peaceful streets of Magnolia as people started to wake up and run their errands for the day. The sun had risen above the rooftops and the metaphorical rooster had crowed the dawn's arrival, so some parts of town were already bustling with workers and shoppers.

The peace of one street was broken when voices filtered around the corner.

"Weirdo," a young man's voice filtered into the morning air, almost in a bored manner.

"Hey, don't call me that!" was clearly a young woman speaking, indignantly.

"I'm just calling you what you are."

"_Ouch_! Why did you pull my hair?!"

"It looks different today!"

"_That doesn't give you the right to pull it_!" the woman's voice had risen shrilly and was even more indignant than it had been in her prior statements.

"Yes, it does." The man's voice was defiant, almost as if he was crossing his arms.

"Fine."

"_Ow!_"

Finally, a salmon-haired young man around eighteen years old stumbled into view from around the corner, clutching his neck and glaring at the person that couldn't be seen. Spluttering, he elaborated on his pained exclamation.

"Why'd you pull on my scarf, Luce? Are you _trying_ to kill me?!"

A blonde young woman of the same age with a rather generous bust then stepped into view, cocking her hip slightly to the right and propping her hand on it. Her hair was in a medium length high ponytail and it swayed to the side as she moved her head. Her chocolate eyes flashed with both amusement and irritation.

"Revenge, Natsu," she said simply, a smirk gracing her lips.

The salmon-haired man pouted and the blonde's angry expression softened completely for a split second before she hitched it back into place. The man readjusted his scarf, still massaging his neck, as he turned to direct the full force of his pout at his companion.

"All I did was pull your hair, Luce!" he said in a pleading tone. "You can't die from that! But _you_ tried to _choke_ me!"

"You can't die from getting your hair pulled, Natsu but that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt," she frowned at him, trying to ignore his pouting as she continued, "And if I had really been trying to choke you, I guarantee your neck would hurt worse than it does now."

His jaw dropped and the look in his eyes made him seem an awful lot like a kicked puppy. The blonde almost wavered in her firm stance again but she held firm.

"But Luce…"

"No buts, Natsu! Now we're even, okay?"

"Luce…it's just…_your hair_. Why did you do it differently today? It's just…_weird_."

"I just felt like something new, is all," sighed the blonde woman, stepping forward and unconsciously fixing his scarf better than he had done on his own. His dark eyes fixed on her, though she didn't notice that fact. Her hands were gentle, much gentler than they should have been, partially as an apology and partially because she knew how much the scarf meant to the salmon-haired man in front of her.

She didn't realize the slight shiver that went through his body when her fingers brushed the exposed skin of his chest as she tugged the end of his scarf slightly and patted it in place. His dark eyes focused on the top of her head in an attempt to keep his mind off of where her hands were. Finally, it occurred to him that he should say something.

"It's just…so _different_," he kind of mumbled, and her pale fingers twitched slightly, pulling away as she looked off to the side. The way the light struck her in that vulnerable position made her seem almost like some sort of angel to the man witnessing it.

"Does it look…_bad_?" asked the young woman in a small voice peeking up at her through her lashes, unintentionally coy.

"N-not at all, Luce!" the salmon-haired man tried to hitch his trademark grin onto his features, but the blonde could tell there was something slightly off about it. "It'll just…it'll just take some getting used to."

After looking closely at him but finding nothing wrong with his outward appearance, she let his odd behavior slide…this time.

"C'mon, Natsu," she said, turning to walk off. "We're running behind."

"Behind for what? We're just going to the guild, it's not like we have to be there at any certain time. Besides, being too predictable is just _boring_!"

The blonde snorted at the typicality of his statement; it was just like him to think predictability was boring…and it was kind of cute of him.

Her face reddened, and she finally began to understand that her stalwart denial was crumbling.

Lucy Heartfilia had fallen for her dopey, idiotic, and childishly adorable best friend.

What this ex-heiress didn't realize yet was that Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's famous Salamander, had fallen for his sometimes whiny but cheerful and intelligent best friend, too.

* * *

Lucy grumbled incoherently as she cleaned up the kitchen. After all her trouble to clean his house the first time she had been there, the mess just came back the minute she looked away. Or so it seemed. And it was _just _her luck to be the one unanimously elected by the guild to go and take care of the sick Natsu. She hadn't even known that he _could _get sick.

And really…just _how_ did Mira know that Lucy was going to head over to his house anyway—and _why in the world_ did she have to say it in front of the _entirety_ of Fairy Tail? When she did that, they had all stopped pestering Gray to go and take care of the dragonslayer and had turned all their attentions to Lucy. Being who she was, she could have refused and stalked out like she had something better to do, pretending to be offended at the suggestion, but she knew she'd end up at Natsu's house eventually anyway. She was drawn to him, almost like a moth to the flame.

And so she had ended up in Natsu's filthy abode, cleaning it up once again while he was sleeping. As irritated as she may have acted, she knew there wasn't really any other place she'd rather be than by his side…even though he was sick and there was the possibility that she could catch it, she still didn't mind being with him.

Lucy wondered if that was what love did to people.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Natsu had awoken and lay there in bed, listening to the sounds of whoever-it-was in his house. It only took a few seconds for him to stop freaking out about the noise coming from the kitchen. The unusual cleanliness of his room assured him that he wasn't under attack—unless he counted a crazy, cleaning-obsessed best friend as an attacker. Though _he_ wasn't particularly afraid of a wash bucket, cleaning cloths, and maybe a mop or two…so it definitely wasn't an attack to him.

But if you counted the images his fevered mind was conjuring up, several of which involved Lucy in a typical housewife outfit or even in a _maid outfit_…oh, Mavis, he was under attack. He was being positively _assaulted_ in his own mind.

He wondered, in his more lucid moments, what brought her to his house. They were best friends, of course, but was there anything more? Was there even the slightest possibility that she might feel _more_ than just the friendship between them? It was embarrassing how desperately his heart yearned for that possibility to become a reality. But…could it be that the guild, which had always sent Gray to tend to the ill Natsu by force, had done the same to Lucy? Natsu really didn't want to consider that, because it just plain _hurt_, especially when he was sick and not quite thinking as clearly as usual.

He felt like she'd become his whole world.

* * *

"This is all your fault, Natsu," Lucy's tone was quite accusatory and exceedingly nasally, so the salmon-haired man didn't blame her at all. She looked utterly miserable.

"Sorry, Luce," the dragonslayer apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean for you to get sick…but you didn't _have_ to come over!"

The feverish blonde huddled deeper into her blue comforter, golden locks splaying in a halo about her head, dangling off her pillow. Her eyes glared over the edge of the cover and her voice was muffled when she spoke.

"Of course I had to come, you idiot! What kind of best friend would I be if I left you to the mercy of _Gray_?"

Natsu let himself snort amusedly at that.

"Fine, you _had_ to come over, same as I had to come here when Mira told me that _you_ were sick."

The slightly irritable blonde laughed a little at that, though she wasn't entirely sure why she found it funny. She blamed the fever.

"Do you want me to fix you something, Luce?"

Now _that_ was a completely unexpected question coming from the childish salmon-haired man's mouth.

"Can I trust you in the kitchen?" the blonde responded, raising an eyebrow to create a quizzical expression. It was a halfhearted insult, yes, and she felt bad about it for a split second until she saw a grin cross his features. That damned adorable, childlike grin.

"'Course you can, Luce. I'm not _that_ bad of a cook, you know."

He could tell that she wasn't exactly convinced, but that contemplative look she wore made her just that much more appealing. Natsu thought that Lucy was dangerously gorgeous, even in her state of disarray. He didn't know when it had all turned into _this_ but now he felt like he had to do all that he could to please her…to make her see him the way he saw her.

"Fine," she broke into his thoughts, biting her bottom lip. "Just some soup or something and I swear, if you burn down this apartment building I won't pay a single jewel of that fine _and_ I'll kick your ass!"

Natsu chuckled.

"I get it, Luce," he flashed a thumbs up at her and slid towards her kitchen watching as she slumped deeper into her pillows.

Once he had left, Lucy found herself staring at the door as if he was still standing there, wondering why he had to be so _perfect_. She had denied it for the longest time, but she couldn't do it anymore. She had completely shunned the fact that he had _all_ of the traits she was looking for in a guy: he was loyal, strong, brave, caring, and protective. And if he were ever clued in to her feelings about him, Lucy suspected that he'd be both passionate and affectionate...kind of like the subtle kindness he was showing her now that she was sick. His offer to fix her food was definitely something she could like about him.

But then there were the other thoughts in her head, like the notion that he was only there to save her from the guild sending Erza to look after her or even that he was only being so helpful because he felt responsible for her illness.

Lucy didn't know how much he really cared.

* * *

"_Ow_, Natsu!" the agitated voice of the blonde woman rang out as the two walked toward the guild on another morning much like the first. "My hair is normal! Why'd you pull on it _this_ time?!"

"I just felt like it."

Natsu shrugged. He felt childish, using that as an excuse to get her attention. Lucy, however, was not amused. Her hand found their way to her hips and she hissed furiously through her teeth.

"I'm going to choke you for real this time," she said darkly, "unless you give me a better reason than that."

"Like what?" the salmon-haired man raised an eyebrow, heart thumping wildly as her cheeks suddenly flushed. He wondered why she was blushing and allowed himself to hope.

"I-it doesn't matter!" she stumbled over her words, looking away and attempting to seem haughty. Inwardly, she cursed her thoughts for going in the romantic direction—after all, young boys constantly teased the girl they liked just to get their attention…but this was Natsu and he wasn't a young boy at all. So that _definitely_ wasn't the reason…right?

"So…any reason, as long as it's better than that?" he prompted her, stepping closer.

Why did his heart have to pound so painfully against his ribs? He was just planning on…well, he realized, his plan was probably why his heart was racing.

"I just said that, didn't I?" Lucy frowned. She was trying to use hostility to mask her true feelings on the matter. "So what's your reason?"

She threateningly reached for his scarf, but Natsu caught her hand in midair and pulled her closer.

"This."

_Thumpthumpthumpthump_.

His heartbeat seemed to echo in his ears, and it was much the same for Lucy.

But…her lips were just as soft as they looked, Natsu decided, and she tasted like…raspberries? But her mouth was soft and slightly moist against his, and he found that he didn't really mind wearing raspberry lip gloss if it meant he got to do this. And still, he held her hand in his, locked between their bodies.

And Lucy decided that it just wasn't _fair_ that Natsu knew more about this whole romance thing than she gave him credit for. She also found that she no longer cared. The blonde curled her fingers around his, her other hand finding its way to his shoulder as her heels came up off the ground. She wouldn't let him get away with _all_ the credit for this kiss, after all.

Slowly, Natsu pulled away from her, his cheeks flushed slightly. He watched as Lucy's sexily half-lidded eyes fluttered open and the flush on her cheeks came back with a vengeance. The dragonslayer felt that his cheeks were getting redder, too, but he flashed the blonde a tentative smile. Lucy returned the gesture with a little more confidence than Natsu had.

They were inches apart when the voice of a Fairy Tail member who had been mysteriously absent for the past week chimed in with his traditional, "They _liiiiiike_ each other!"

Happy grinned as the two mages in question jerked their head back, turning to face him. He then continued with a devious little smile, "I've got to go tell _everyone_!"

Before they could even form coherent sentences or think to yell "STOP!", the Exceed was out of sight.

Yes, the entire guild knew the story when they arrived shortly afterwards. Mirajane and Happy seemed rather smug about it all, as if it was due to some mischievous plan of their creation, and wolf-whistles greeted the newest Fairy Tail couple upon their entrance.

Gray was perhaps the only one who noticed Natsu's choice of raspberry flavored lip gloss—well, it's not like he knew the flavor—but he wisely chose _not_ to comment on the dragonslayer's fashion statement.

* * *

**LOLOL my laptop's dying and it's 3:30 in the morning BUT WHO CARES.**

**I forgot how funny this was until I rediscovered it an hour ago and decided "Oh what the hey I don't THINK I've posted it so let's type it and get it out!" And really, considering that it's 3:30 AM it might not even be as funny as it seems to me. I'll let you judge that.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed! **


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